CharField filenames into ImageFields in Django

Question

I have a model:

class Photo(models.Model):
    filename = models.CharField(max_length=240)

And a corresponding MySQL table, filled with filenames (copied from an existing table).

In the future I may want to upload new photos to the model via admin. Is it possible to evolve the current model into something with ImageFields and integrate my legacy data?

Answer 1

It is possible, assuming the current filename field in your model contains the full path to the actual file, you can add a new field (ImageField) to your model and migrate it using South, then write a script to update your data.

A skeleton example,

from django.core.files import File

# assuming your updated model looks like:
# class Photo(models.Model):
#     filename = models.CharField(max_length=240)
#     image = models.ImageField(max_length=240)

photos = Photo.objects.all()
for p in photos:
    f = open(p.filename)
    myimage = File(f)
    p.image.save(image_name, myimage) # name, content

And then remove the old filename field via South. Take a look at Django's FileField first for more information, since ImageField essentially inherits all of the former's attribute and methods. (see https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.3/ref/models/fields/#django.db.models.FileField )